Sound Quality

[Cablguy184]

I compete Car Audio Sound Quality for USACI and MECA ...

Is there any other Car Audio Sound Quality competitors out there ???

 

[scmsltn]

Not that I know of....post some pics of your setup and specs. What brand/method do you use for sound deadening.

 

[Cablguy184]

Thank you ... and i'm working on it Sir ...

 

[Cablguy184]

What brand/method do you use for sound deadening.

Audio Technix ... I will post a new thread on sound deadning if you like ... or you thing the folks on this thread would like to see it ...
I did ALOT of work on this thing ...

 

[T DOG]

How is SQ judged at a competition?

 

[sewlow]

I don't compete, but I do like a great sounding system. Every vehicle that I've owned has had a system installed as one of the first mods. I'm always looking to upgrade. I'd love to see what you've done & apply some of that knowledge to what I have now. Who knows, maybe I CAN get mine to where it's competition capable. Post some pix & specs, please.

 

[Cablguy184]

Here you go guys ...
It takes a lot to create a good truck / car audio system. Here are six basic steps every truck / car audio enthusiast should take on the path to great sound.

Making up your mind
One of the first things you need to do is decide what type of system you want. Do you want one that can reproduce your music so that it sounds like you're at a live concert? Or do you want a system that can simply blast out a bunch of bass? Maybe you want a system that can do both. By starting with a goal in mind, you can save yourself from potentially wasting money on components or wasting time on designs and installations that don't fit your overall objectives.

Doing your homework
Do your homework by researching which components fit your car (the size of the speaker and the factory-radio openings) and best accomplish what you want your system to do, what they cost, and where they're available.

Information is power, and the more information you have, the more you'll be empowered to make the best decisions on equipment and system design.

Using your ears
A car audio system is a very personal thing — for your ears only. Although you may get advice from others on which components to buy, how they should be installed, and how the system should be tuned, you should be the ultimate authority on the subject. After all, you're the one spending the money on a car audio system. It's your car and they are your ears: They'll tell you what kind of sound is best.

Using your head
Are you sure you want to install a system that costs twice as much as your car? Do you really want to rip out the back seat to install subwoofers? Is it wise to fill up the trunk of the car with amplifiers so that you can't even carry a bag of groceries?

It's easy to get carried away when planning, shopping for, and installing a car audio system. Try to keep a level head when putting together your system, taking into account how you use your car, how long you plan to keep it, how much you've budgeted, and other such considerations. Too many people make poor choices and regret it afterward.

Cranking it up
When shopping for car audio equipment, don't be afraid to play music at loud volumes to get a sense of how a speaker or subwoofer performs. Most components are made to play music at loud volume and perform their best when cranked up. Same thing goes for after you get the stuff installed in your car. Don't hesitate to crank it up from time to time.

Turning it down
Of course, there's a limit to how much you want to crank it up. A little distortion is inevitable, but a lot can damage components, particularly speakers. When you hear distortion or a problem with a component, turn it down.

And when you're driving through a quiet neighborhood, turn it down. You also want to be careful not to crank it so loud that you don't hear sirens from emergency vehicles. And you don't want to play your system so loud that it damages your ears — otherwise you won't be enjoying music for years to come.

 

[Cablguy184]

Sound Quality theories and principles ...
Listening to audiophiles go on about the sound quality of their audio systems — from their woofers to their tweeters — can sound a lot like oenophiles going on and on about the qualities of wine. To understand such talk, start by understanding the four basics of sound quality:


Clarity
Dynamic range
Frequency response
Tonal balance

Clarity
Clarity is the ability of a system to produce the original signal as intended, without distortion. Distortion can be caused by numerous things — from a head unit that's not level-matched with an amplifier to an amplifier that's clipping, or being overdriven and sending a distorted signal to the speakers. And distortion can come from any component in a system.

A good test is to listen to cymbals, which can have a brassy and off-putting sound when distorted. High-pitched female vocals are also difficult to reproduce and can reveal distortion rather easily.

Achieving clarity and therefore avoiding distortion is all about proper system design and tuning. It's making sure components are of sufficient quality and compatible with one another and that signal levels are well matched between electronics. It also involves using a component as it was intended and not pushing it past its design limits.


Dynamic range
Dynamic range refers to the ability of a system to reproduce loud and soft passages in music with the same level of detail. When you're at a live concert, a singer may wail and then whisper or a drummer may hit a drum head with brute force and then back off a bit. Each extreme is an important part of the performance.

If the performance is recorded and reproduced by an audio system, the loud and soft parts should be delivered with the same detail and accuracy. But often a system tends to suppress soft parts and emphasize loud ones, meaning you lose the subtleties of the performance.

A related concept is linearity, which refers to a system's tendency to lose detail when the volume is turned down. A system has great linearity if it can retain the same detail at a low volume that it does when it's cranked up.


Frequency response
Every sound you hear, from the low rumble of thunder to the high-pitch wail of a siren, is caused by vibrations in the air that occur at certain frequencies. These vibrations are measured in hertz (Hz), which refers to the number of times per second these vibrations occur.

Humans can hear frequencies roughly from 20 to 20,000 Hz. A car audio system's frequency response represents how much of the audible frequency spectrum it can reproduce. The frequency response of a car audio system can be measured by an instrument known as a real-time analyzer (RTA), which consists of a microphone attached to a processor with a display that has a graph that shows a system's response.


Tonal balance
An ideal car audio system uniformly reproduces the entire audible frequency spectrum from 20 to 20,000 Hz. But no system — at least while playing music — is perfect. Music is dynamic; some parts are loud and some are soft, so a system will naturally have dips and peaks in its frequency response.

Although a system can have these peaks and dips in frequency response, it needs to have good tonal balance — a relatively equal amount of sonic energy across the frequency range — to sound good. Subsequently, system designers and tuners often measure frequency response to gauge which frequencies may need to be boosted or cut as opposed to trying to achieve a flat frequency response. This can be done with an equalizer, although it's best that the system is designed in such a way that it has good tonal balance to begin with.

 

[Cablguy184]

Although the four basic sound quality concepts (clarity, dynamic range, frequency response, and tonal balance) are the most fundamental to understand before purchasing a new car audio system, there are a few other sound quality attributes that are also important.


Timbre
Timbre (pronounced "TAM-bir") refers to a system's ability to recreate the sound of an instrument as it was originally intended to be heard. An acoustic guitar is usually a good test for this because most people have heard one. Does the sound have that warm, slightly resonant quality that the instrument is known for, or does it merely sound like a low-resolution reproduction of that signature sound?


Tonal accuracy
Tonal accuracy describes how faithful a system is in general to the original recording. It can apply to instruments as well as vocals. The more accurate the system is while playing a good recording, the more you feel as if you are there, listening to a live performance as opposed to a recording.

Tonal accuracy can also apply to the ambiance in a recording, which refers to the space in which a recording is made. Most modern recordings are made in a sort of vacuum, with individual instruments recorded separately or, in the case of some rap music, the individual parts are sampled from other recordings. But many older recordings, some modern ones, and almost all live albums capture the environment in which the performance was recorded. In fact, certain recording studios and performance spaces are known and revered for their sound, which give a recording or performance a specific ambiance.

Think of timbre and tonal accuracy as the reproduction of how close you get to the actual performance or how the producer intended for it to sound. Whether it's the sound of Miles Davis's trumpet, Jimmy Page's guitar, a Dr. Dre beat, or the ambiance of Carnegie Hall, how well a system can reproduce it the way it went down in a studio or concert hall determines the difference between a good system and a great one.


Staging and imaging
Staging and imaging are related concepts that go back to the heyday of stereo, and therefore don't always apply to modern music. The basic idea is that when you're listening to a stereo recording, the system should recreate the illusion of the stage on which the performance occurred, and you should be able to pinpoint the sonic image of the individual performers and instruments within the stage.

Think about the example of a basic rock band that includes a singer, guitarist, bass player, and drummer. You should be able to close your eyes and picture the singer at the center of the stage, the guitarist to the right, the bass player on the left, and the drummer center and behind the singer. Keep in mind that this is an ideal that sound quality systems should approach if not achieve. With rap and many pop-music recordings, the vocalist will be centered, but the concept of a band playing on a stage doesn't exactly apply.

Speaker placement has a dramatic effect on staging and imaging, and hardcore enthusiasts often go to great lengths to position their speakers for the best possible results. This includes rebuilding door panels to better position speakers. Some have even built elaborate mechanisms to mount speakers in or raise them above the dash in order to achieve better staging and imaging.

Finally, no discussion of sound quality would be complete without mentioning interior acoustics. A car's interior, its reflective surfaces (such as glass), and its absorptive materials (upholstery) play a dramatic role in a system's response. And every car interior is different; if you install the exact same components in your Toyota Camry that your friend has in his Chrysler 300C, the systems will sound very different.

 

[T DOG]

So how is SQ judged at a competition? I know for SPL they use meters. Do they have meters that measure SQ or is it just determined by the judges ears?